The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) Review

 

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

The Amazing Spider-Man follows Peter Parker, who, after uncovering secrets about his father, goes looking for answers, leading to him being bitten by a radioactive spider, thus giving him powers and setting him on a crash course with his fathers former partner, Dr. Curt Conners, and his reptilian alter ego, The Lizard. 

With Andrew Garfield in 2012 came Sony’s first attempt at rebooting everybody’s favorite wall crawler, and while it’s good, it’s far from amazing. Commendably, they really shoot for something not only new but completely different, throwing Peter back in high school, giving him a new love interest, and putting a particular focus on the conspiracy and secret behind his parents untimely disappearance. As for this iteration of Peter, I’m still not entirely on board with him (in this film anyways) because he’s entirely too “cool”, coming off as more of a rebellious outcast, than the unpopular nerd he is in the comics, though I loved the way his smarts and intelligence were leaned on heavily, not just as a character trait, but as a plot element. As for the budding romance between Peter and Gwen, I thoroughly hated it, as it was forced and awkward, if not even a little cringey, even if it did segway us nicely into the cat & mouse game between Captain Stacey and Spidey. 

As for Spider-Man himself, that’s where the film truly shines, with a spectacular (and saturated) new suit, some outright stellar special effects (still some of the best we’ve seen in any Spider-Man movie), and some pretty dynamic action that really highlights the agile, spider elements of this new Spidey. I do think however, they got the Lizard a bit backwards, as he really should’ve been more of Jekyll and Hyde type, and instead they just gave him a tired, take over the world and turn everyone into lizards sort of thing that simply didn’t work for the type of character Conners was built out to be. 

Now, we do get a decent cast, starring C. Thomas Howell, Chris Zylka, Irrfan Khan, Sally Field, Martin Sheen, Denis Leary, Rhys Ifans, Emma Stone, and Andrew Garfield. Garfield certainly leaves a lot to be desired as Peter, and in turn Spidey, but for a Freshman performance, it’s not bad. I did quite like the performances we got out of Stone, Leary, and Ifans however, as they just felt a lot more natural than Garfield's. 

The Amazing Spider-Man, directed by Marc Webb, is a solid stab at a deeper, more mystery driven Spider-Man film, and while it gets the characterizations a bit wrong, it makes up for it some by getting what matters right, and that’s the web-slinger himself. 

7.4/10